Thursday, June 28, 2012

"For the Glory of Your Name"

I promise, I'm not psychic. Even if I was born in a caul on Halloween. I wrote the last post before I went to noon Mass, and as usual I had not idea who the saint of the day was or what the readings were. It would have been hard for either to be more appropriate.
Today was the memorial of St. Irenaeus, bishop and martyr, a famous anti-Gnostic and champion of Apostolic authority. Not bad for a start, but it gets better. The first reading came from the book of Kings, and dealt with, of all things, the Babylonian captivity.

1 2 Kings, 24:8-17Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.His mother's name was Nehushta,daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD,just as his forebears had done.At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,himself arrived at the citywhile his servants were besieging it.Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,his ministers, officers, and functionaries,surrendered to the king of Babylon, who,in the eighth year of his reign, took him captive.And he carried off all the treasuresof the temple of the LORD and those of the palace,and broke up all the gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel,had provided in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had foretold.He deported all Jerusalem ...

Really, I swear I had no idea it had to do with Dear Old Nebby! (I'm feeling better already; can you tell?) Read the rest here. Needless to say, the psalm followed the same theme, especially in its response: "For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us."